by A. K. Vyas
The rain came as if on cue, shortly after nightfall, and mercilessly extinguished his torch. It was so dark Aash couldn`t see his hand in front of his face. This is bad.
Lulu was holding a sleeping Emil high up in the prugna tree. They were both soaked to the bone from the storm and shivering. She knew the Sabretooth was somewhere close waiting for them. It’d all happened in a blink. As she’d met the great cat`s charge, a savage white growling blur streaked past her. Cloud was fearless. Lulu had dropped the spear. She’d sprinted after Emil and picked him up. Lulu had heard horrible snarling sounds behind her. The dreadful lords of the forest dueled to the death with claw and fang.
Mama had just focused on getting up the tree with a wildly protesting Emil. She looked down to see the bloody Sabretooth scratching furiously at the base of the tree, seemingly mere moments after they were up high and safe.
Emil had waved his black knife angrily at the cat, screaming, “My papa will kill you!” The Sabretooth had roared back savagely, but the great cat could not reach them.
Lulu squeezed her sleeping son tighter as her thoughts flashed back to Cloud. She choked back silent tears and closed her eyes, thinking she could force this grim vision out of her mind’s eye. Lulu bore sole witness to this dance of death. She had shielded Emil’s eyes.
None save the Sabretooth and Cloud would ever voice their deadly contest. It was a teardrop in the infinite river of time. The white wolf’s initial charge had befuddled the great cat. Cloud was lightning quick, but still a young wolf. The Sabretooth had been so focused on Lulu’s charge, he’d heard rather than seen the white wolf. A more experienced wolf would have charged in silence. Instead, the cat’s lightning reflexes saved him from a crippling slash to the throat. The bite was still dangerously deep.
The Sabretooth leapt forward just in time to escape Cloud’s backhanded attempt to hamstring him. A flashing fast claw stroke ripped deep into Cloud’s nose. Cloud yelped in pain. The white wolf’s blood-splattered blue eyes briefly focused on the big tree. Then, his demeanor exuded pure fear. Cloud nearly flipped over backwards to turn around, and ran crying for the tree line.
The Sabretooth saw this weakness and fear. The primal instinct was to give chase. Cloud fled straight into a thorny deadfall. The evil cat had underestimated the white wolf’s cunning once again. Thinking he’d cornered Cloud, he realized all too late, this was a superb ruse. The white wolf’s position was strong. There was only space for one of them in the deadfall. Cloud’s flanks and rear were now protected by thick, impenetrable thorns. The only way to attack the white wolf was to come right through his snarling teeth. The wily Sabretooth realized he’d been led further away from the hated humans. He tested the wolf, trying to lure him out with a paw feint. Cloud’s response was to bite off a portion of the cat’s offending paw. The Sabretooth backed off, realizing the futility of attacking the wolf in this deadfall. Cloud’s eyes blazed pure insolence. He knew he was safe here, and sensed his family had time to make the tree.
The shrewd Sabretooth backed off, leering cruelly. A normal wolf would never leave this position, but this one cared for his humans. He would follow if they were in danger! The big cat spun around and charged the prugna tree with a throaty roar. Cloud sensed his family was safe, but he couldn’t see from the deadfall. Had the Sabretooth seen something? Had his boy fallen from the tree? The bloody white wolf brazenly charged out after the Sabretooth.
This played right into the big cat’s paws, as it whirled back on Cloud. The white wolf barely ducked a decapitating paw stroke. They circled one another slowly, growling deeply. Then the old cat noticed the young wolf held his head a bit too high. With a savage growl, he feinted at Cloud’s throat and lunged low. There was a sharp crunch. The white wolf’s front paw now dangled uselessly beneath him. Cloud would still not go down. He snarled defiance, hopping on his three good legs.
The Sabretooth knew it was only a matter of time for the crippled wolf. Cloud knew he couldn’t win now, but he could return the favor. The white wolf slashed high in desperation for the big cat’s throat—he could feint as well. Cloud felt a full paw in his mouth, and bit down through it with all his remaining strength, no matter what. The Sabretooth’s jaws locked around the white fur of Cloud’s neck and found the jugular. Cloud released the cat’s mangled paw, making a final weak lunge for the Sabretooth’s throat. The white wolf’s final effort came up just short, as his lifeblood emptied from his noble throat into the trampled grass. This was Cloud, the first dog.
Emil woke up shivering in the darkness. Intermittent fireflies illuminated the Sabretooth’s green eyes glowing malevolently in the darkness.
“Don’t be scared, Mama, Papa will come,” proclaimed Emil as he gave her a prugna. Lulu forced a grim smile. This was, in fact, exactly what Lulu was scared of despite the rain and Stygian darkness. My sensitive little Babo is brave, and trying to comfort me. Aash will come. He’ll be completely blind. The Sabretooth can see in the dark and will be waiting for him.
False dawn found Papa restless and cursing high up an oak tree. He was doing the breathing exercise, praying to the spirits, and trying anything to keep bad visions from his mind. He lit his torch and began tracking at first light. A bit further ahead the trail had led right into a narrow bushy chapparal. A hyena clan had sheltered the night there from the storm. The storm actually saved me. If I’d stumbled blindly upon them in the dark, they’d have torn me to pieces.
Inexplicably, somehow the secure covers had fallen off the pair of venom darts in the quiver. He couldn’t tell which two they were. Aash heard the roar of a big cat’s challenge carrying over the ridge by the river. There were no answering forest sounds. Papa began sprinting and praying like a man possessed. The Sabretooth has them cornered.
Emil and Mama woke to a loud coarse scraping sound from below. The Sabretooth was back again. It let out an earsplitting roar which shook the very core of their tree. Emil screamed back, throwing his last rock at the big cat. The stone struck the blind eye of the Sabretooth, who responded with an enraged growl and slammed into the base of the tree. The impact jarred Emil´s exhausted grip loose from his branch. Mama barely caught his wrist as he fell swaying from their branch. The Sabretooth reared back and sprang up high in the air. It pushed off from the trunk, barely missing Emil’s dangling foot. Mama pulled with every fiber of her being. Lulu dragged her bawling son back up onto their branch, holding him close in a death grip. Her arms were spent from the cold and effort.
Mama made sure Emil was secure. She felt her own grip, frozen numb from the cold, now spent and slowly slipping from the branch. There was a brief lull in the din, as the big cat below looked up to see all of this with glee. The Sabretooth licked his chops with anticipation at what was now sure to come.
Both Lulu and Emil heard a sudden high-pitched whistling sound below. The unmistakable hearty thud of sharp flint striking solid flesh echoed loudly. The Sabretooth yelped a shrill, agonized howl and flipped on its back. It was biting with insane fervor at the dart now protruding from its haunches. Emil secured his mama back up on their branch while exclaiming, “Papa’s here!”
Another venom dart thumped into the ground, just missing the big cat`s head. A deep, full-throated primal battle cry boomed forth, reverberating down the thorny hillside.
“HAR HAR MAHADEV!”
The Sabretooth recovered its feet and with a quick jerk of its tail accepted the man’s challenge. It gnashed its gruesome jaws and charged its tormentor with rabid guttural growls.
Papa smoothly reloaded the throwing stick with the last venom dart and took aim. Lulu and Emil both forgot to breathe, watching the low-flying tawny blur streak uphill at Papa. The last dart barely missed, scraping just high as the big cat rolled under it.
Aash took a deep breath. He knelt evenly and composedly grounded the spear butt in the earth, just as his father had taught him so long ago. In the end, Papa stood tall to meet the Sabretooth’s charge with the great ivory war axe.
A
charging Sabretooth will strike from low to high, unless it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter if you are kneeling. This ends here. No matter what.
Everything slowed down; there was no sound. Papa could see the enraged yellow eyes growing in size, ever so slowly. The cat’s terrible mouth and cruel fangs ached, leaping for his throat. At the absolute very last instant, he dropped to a knee. Lulu covered Emil’s eyes, with her heart in her throat.
As the great cat sprang upon him, Papa dropped the axe and pulled the heavy obsidian spear up off the ground, screaming defiance with all his strength. The impact was a sickening crunch as the big cat flipped completely head over heels, impaled. Papa was knocked back into darkness. The Sabretooth swiped a thunderous paw stroke down at the prone man as it flew over him, missing by less than a hair’s width.
Papa lay dazed, waiting for the inevitable feeling of the long fangs tearing his throat. It was actually a dreamy sensation, surprisingly not unpleasant. He felt no pain. At least it can’t climb Emil’s tree now. He thought he saw the Eagle Feather. In the blur, he smiled at the thought of greeting his father once again. The deadly bite never came.
Slowly, they eventually rolled Papa to a knee. His vision was still very blurred and his balance was shaky. He stumbled for the ivory axe. There was no need. The Sabretooth was lying still in a clumping pool of dark arterial blood. The heavy ash spear shaft buried completely through the neck. Then the world went black again.
When Papa came to, he was in Mama’s lap and Babo was pouring cool water on his lips. The sun shone brightly, illuminating the Eagle Feather, and Emil’s smiling face from behind.
“Lulu, you changed your hair?” Papa whispered faintly as he slowly brushed the back of his bloody, broken hand down the side of her face. She started crying again.
He held Lulu’s hand tightly as Emil was sobbing with happiness. “You did it, Papa! You did it! I knew it! You did it!”
Papa held them both close and tight as they gingerly helped him to his feet. His vision was clearing, but he had an awful headache. His entire left side was bruised a dark purple hue.
“Cloud and Mama saved me,” gasped Emil. Papa held them both tight forever. Emil was crying again now. “It’s my fault, Papa—I wanted a special prugna gift for you.” Aash shook his head, not trusting his voice yet, and kissed them both again and again.
Papa`s strength was returning. He sat carefully for a long time, examining the Sabretooth’s carcass before skinning it. The dart had slowed the big cat. There was also another painfully deep gash straight to the bone in the Sabretooth’s neck. The big cat’s left front paw had been nearly bitten off. Cloud the white wolf sold his life very dearly. Papa realized these crippling injuries to the cat likely allowed Lulu and Emil to make it to the tree, and also slowed the cat’s final charge. I remember the fluffy, little white ball of fur Emil made us save so long ago. Cloud the white wolf had repaid his family with the ultimate gift.
Emil and Papa locked eyes tearfully in unison. “Good.”
The People’s hunting team spotted them, led by more circling vultures, and roared in relief. The little family was limping silently arm in arm through a wooded clearing. The Eagle Feather visible like a shining white beacon well across the distant golden horizon.
They were pulling a hasty travois with remains of Cloud, and an enormous Sabretooth skin. Chief Sev grabbed Papa’s forearm in warm greeting, then personally took a travois pole away from Mama. The hunting team escorted them home.
Papa insisted Cloud`s remains be treated the same as any of the People’s. By tradition, Lulu led them all in the old prayers. Mama sang a hauntingly beautiful new song for the white wolf. The Sky Spirits accepted Cloud, a straight and true member of the Auroch People.
Chapter Twenty-three
“An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer.” -Greek Proverb
The Eagle Feather
The forest was silent that gray-lit morning. The early morning breeze was still cool, as ripples gently flowed across the river’s shimmering surface. The hot summer sun was tardy so far.
Aash’s hunting team watched as the Mountain Men’s hollow log forded the river. Peace signs exchanged on both sides. This was trading day. Ten pouches of salt traded for an equal number of sable pelts and a big leather wrap of edelweiss.
As they reached the shore there was no sign of Aki. Aash noticed, Inga is here instead of Aki. Why is she wearing furs dyed black? What’s wrong?
Inga saw his new Sabretooth claw necklace and the freshly wrapped poultice around his left hand. Inga greeted him with a sad smile. The goods were exchanged quickly.
The Spearmaker signed, “I…thank Aki…. edelweiss…save Lulu…. here gift.” He offered Inga a beautiful obsidian dagger with an ivory handle. He’d crafted it out of gratitude for the giant hunter.
Inga’s face quivered. “I accept…for Mountain Men…Aki gone, Sabretooth…. five nights ago.” With her hands she described in anguish how the cat had somehow torn through their hut’s door as they slept. It’d dragged Aki away on a dark moonless night. She signed, “Shaitan…. drag Aki far…before kill.” She pointed at Aash’s necklace.
Aash sighed, signing,” Yes…. the Sabretooth dead…. We kill four days ago. Without hesitation he removed the necklace, offering it to the young widow.
“Aki… avenged…you take,” Aash signed.
Inga shook her head. She could never wear something she hated so deeply. She signed back, “Thank you… you save me…you avenge Aki…” Then with dignified grace she stepped back into their boat. The Mountain Men and Inga rowed back across.
On the walk back to the village Aash thought of Aki and grimaced.
Ironically, the giant’s immense strength probably only increased his suffering. Why had the cat dragged him so far before killing him? What must have gone through the poor fellow’s mind? He’d been dragged to his death, knowing he’d never see his loved ones again, and nothing could save him. Life is not fair; no one deserves that fate.
He remembered the tranquil, almost peaceful feeling he’d had when the Sabretooth had hit him. I hope Aki also experienced this. Aash silently offered up the same prayer for the Mountain Man that they used for their own fallen hunters. “Blue Skies warrior, thank you for saving my son.”
Papa was crafting a new throwing stick later that day, when Emil asked to show him something.
Mama was with them and had helped the boys set up a wooden throwing target. She greeted Papa with a kiss. Lulu covered her mouth out of sympathy when he told her of Aki’s fate. They held hands to the side of the boys as she mentioned, “I’ve been helping Emil with this for the past moon cycle. The boys have been practicing hard and wanted to surprise you.”
Emil and the boys stood in tandem. They faced the wooden target at twice the range a throwing stick dart could reach. Emil had a springy, coiled, rawhide sling, with a smooth rock in a pouch. He whirled it around his head and stepped toward the target. With an overhand snapping motion, he hurled the rock at the target. The fist-sized stone zinged into the target, shattering it with a dull crunch. Then all the boys followed suit. A hailstorm of zinging rocks struck the target area with deadly velocity, and rapid subsequent salvos. Papa was amazed. Some boys were better than others, but the barrage was deadly. The sling had twice the range and could be reloaded much faster than a throwing stick. He imagined it would be hell to be a herd of prey animals or a line of hunters on the receiving end of these slinging rocks. The force was incredibly powerful when it hit. These slings were truly lethal weapons.
Emil came up to show Papa the sling.
“Papa, remember before the storm when the Gher strap broke and that rock flew so far into the trees? Mama helped me make this from old water pouches. We’ve been trying different lengths and stones. We practice every day. The strongest boys can sling almost three times farther than a throwing stick. We aren’t accurate enough to hunt with them yet. We get better every day. Most of us can alread
y hit a man-sized target at throwing-stick range most throws. With practice, I think this could be another big help to the People.” The possibilities were endless. Papa hugged his son in genuine amazement. The hunters all needed to see this.
That night was a “Man Talk.” Emil and Papa headed out toward the night tree near dusk. It seemed like Emil was waiting for something. As they took in the peaceful sounds of summer in the forest, Emil spoke. “I’m sorry, Papa. I just keep waiting for Cloud to catch up rushing out of some bushes. I guess it’s still hard to believe he’s gone.”
Papa put his arm around Emil as they made their way up the hill. The waning sun highlighted his eagle feather. At this angle, the boy looks so much like his opa. Papa did a double-take. It was a quiet, star-filled night on the platform.
Papa noticed Emil was a bit quiet. They talked a bit about Aki, and agreed he was a good man who didn’t deserve his brutal fate. Papa observed:
“Emil, like you, Aki was by nature a cheerful, happy person. I don’t think this is an accident; I think it’s a skill. We are pack animals at the end of the day; you can get a solid measure of a person by the kinds of people he or she surrounds themselves with. Good and bad things happen to all of us. You need to find excuses to be happy in life instead, of angry or sad. This sounds obvious and easy. I learned this habit is up to you, regardless of your circumstances. It’s equally important to, as best you can, surround yourself with likeminded people. Those who are actively trying to be happy and healthy themselves. In fact, I actually ask myself this blunt question: is this a person looking for excuses to be happy? The answer tells me a great deal.”
Papa could tell this didn’t seem like an earth-shattering observation for Emil, who was by nature always cheerful and smiling. I hope this never changes, son. This is a powerful gift.
Emil was mainly focused on Lupus. Papa could tell he was wondering if the white wolf had taken his place high up in the heavens with the Sky Spirits watching over the People.